Anniversary of the seizure of power: Don't forget Afghanistan!
Four years after the Taliban seized power, the humanitarian and human rights situation in Afghanistan is catastrophic. Millions of children suffer from hunger, exploitation, and lack of education. Those who have stood up for freedom and democracy live in constant danger. Women and girls are systematically deprived of their rights.
“After the withdrawal of international troops, the Afghan population was promised protection and support. Today, however, we are seeing that these promises have hardly been kept – Afghanistan is being abandoned,” explains Joshua Hofert, Executive Director of Terre des Hommes . “Due to the massive decline in international aid, the plight of children and families is worsening. Our aid projects are also increasingly lacking in resources. The situation is now life-threatening for many children and families.”
According to UNICEF, over 3.5 million children under the age of five in Afghanistan are acutely malnourished – 900,000 of them so severely that their lives are in danger. Many parents see no other option than to send their children to work or marry them off early so that they can survive.
The situation is further exacerbated by mass deportations: According to the UNHCR, around 2.1 million Afghans have already returned from Iran and Pakistan or been deported to Afghanistan in 2025. The already inadequate structures for receiving returnees are now completely overwhelmed. In many places, the provision of food, drinking water, and medical assistance, as well as the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and other dangers, is not guaranteed.
Recording is currently stopped
The situation is particularly dangerous for Afghan human rights activists and former local staff of German organizations. Some of them had received promises of resettlement in Germany. Trusting in these promises, many sold their belongings and left for Pakistan. However, the German government has currently suspended resettlement programs. Since then, many people – predominantly women and children – have been stranded in Pakistan despite their promises of resettlement. If they are not brought to Germany quickly, they face deportation back to Afghanistan, where they face torture, ill-treatment, and other serious human rights violations, as confirmed by a recently published UN report .
“The German government must honor its commitments to accept refugees – anything else would be a breach of promise with dramatic consequences for those affected. Thousands of people are in acute danger, including former employees from Terre des Hommes projects who campaigned for children's and women's rights. Otherwise, they will lose their last hope for protection,” explains Joshua Hofert.
Update 14.8.: Situation in Pakistan escalates
Pakistani security forces are currently carrying out massive crackdowns on Afghans with valid German resettlement commitments. Large-scale raids are underway in Islamabad to deport people back to Afghanistan. Numerous human rights activists and former local staff members of German organizations are affected – despite having received resettlement commitments from Germany. Unaccompanied minors have also been arrested, families torn apart and deported. Their lives are in grave danger.
“The fact that even people with a valid German admission commitment are now being deported is a humanitarian scandal. The federal government must act immediately, massively increase the pressure, bring those affected to safety in Germany and honor its admission commitments,” said Joshua Hofert.
Take action now!
Join us in putting pressure on the government: Write to the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, or your Member of Parliament. Use our letter template and the contact links provided – every message helps. Download the letter template here and insert your text:
Terre des Hommes demands
- Humanitarian aid and development cooperation for Afghanistan, especially for women and children, urgently needs to be increased.
- The German government must advocate internationally for a halt to forced returns to Afghanistan.
- The German government must honor its commitments to accept refugees and continue the refugee programs for Afghanistan.
A poem about Afghanistan
Khorshid*, a young Afghan woman who now lives in Germany, wrote a poem to mark the anniversary. Terre des Hommes has permission to publish it
August 15, 2021 – The day I finally lost my home
A cry against forgetting. Against silence. Against indifference.
I will never forget August 15, 2021.
Never.
On that day, the Taliban took Kabul.
On that day, not just a city fell—a country fell.
My homeland fell.
I had lost it before—that happened when I was forced to flee.
But on that day, I lost it for good. Not through my escape. But because there is no Afghanistan left for me to ever reclaim.
What remains is a place without hope. Without freedom. Without a future.
Since that day, a crime has been committed—
day after day. Hour after hour. Life after life.
*Name changed
The complete poem